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Monday, April 29, 2013

Instant Noodles! Angel Hair Pasta with XO Sauce

I was home alone one day, feeling hungry and lazy at the same time. Yes, those days do happen. I have a small container of Silverfish, just for this kind of day. This recipe is something I picked up at a promotional cooking class.

Angel Hair Pasta with XO Sauce with silver fish and spring onions

Assuming you have the silver fish ready made, this takes sheer minutes to put together, once the pasta hits the boiling water.

This dish works great as a light meal or as a carb element in a more substantial meal.

The XO sauce adds a spicy kick to the whole dish. The tangy and slightly bitter spring onions cut through the sweetness of the XO sauce. The silver fish adding the hit of savory coupled with another textural crunch element.

Preparation of silver fish:
This can be done days in advance. They store very well in an airtight container.

1. Heat some oil in a wok or pan over medium-high heat.

2. Once oil is heated up, gently add in all the silver fish into the pan/wok. Stir fry until they are light brown and crispy. About 5-7 minutes or so.

3. Remove silver fish from pan/wok and drain excess oil. Set aside to cool before storing.

4. Store away and use as needed. (Like in this dish)

Pasta preparation.

1. Boil a pot of salted water for the pasta.

2. Place the XO sauce in a small frying pan/pot over low heat. Add the 1 - 2 tbsp light olive oil and mix together. This is to get the XO sauce to loosen up. Making it easier to mix with the pasta. This is especially important if you just took your jar of XO sauce out of the fridge. Take care not cook the XO sauce again, you just want to heat it up and let it "melt" a little.

3. You can use the time while waiting for the water to boil to slice your spring onions.Once water is on a rolling boil, add in the pasta. They take 2 minutes to cook, just like instant noodles.

4. Once pasta is cooked, use a strainer to get rid of the water. At this point I like to run cold water from the tap through the pasta for a few seconds to stop it from cooking. Then throw the pasta back into the pot, or in a bowl for dressing.

5. Using a dinner spoon, separate the solids of the oil in the XO sauce. You can do this by tilting the pot/pan to one side. Spoon some of the oil onto the pasta and mix well, to have the pasta nicely coated with the sauce.

6. Dish the pasta onto a plate and add spring onions, 1/2 - 1 tbsp silverfish and the rest of the XO sauce.

7. Optional and something I love to do. You can top it off with a sunny side up even cooked shrimp!

Enjoy!

P.S. Woh Hup's XO Sauce is almost half the price of Lee Kum Kee's. Do you have an opinion on which is better?